


Fears, or When the Apple Falls Far

by imaginedandreal



Series: The Virtch and Moir Fluff Fix [7]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Birthday Smut, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Mild Childbirth, Phobias, Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex, very very very brief and mild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 03:08:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginedandreal/pseuds/imaginedandreal
Summary: Scott and Tessa’s daughter is about to become a big sister, when she acquires an interest in the most unexpected of things. Scott realizes that sometimes, apples do fall pretty far from the tree. The day is saved by four casual heroes.





	Fears, or When the Apple Falls Far

**Author's Note:**

> So it seems like this series will feature at least this one and maybe more fics about TS and Rosie and beyond. I liked writing this one, but rest assured, it was not my intention at all to make fun of phobias, since they are serious issues overall. I hope that was okay of me, the way I wrote Scott's mascot fear here.

Tessa springs a family outing to a Leafs game on him, to the match that will happen right on his birthday. 

The week before, she walks around the house all mysterious, smirking knowingly to herself. 

“Listen, T, are you okay? You’re acting like you finally decided that we give in and get Rosie a puppy,” he jokes to her. Tessa snorts. 

“Nope,” she decisively whisks a planner in which she’d been scribbling from under his curious hand. “I can’t keep tabs on Rosie _and_ the baby _and_ you _and_ a puppy all day every day. I can only be in so many places at once, and it’s tiring.” She tosses the planner into her bag. 

Scott grins, walking up to her to wrap his arms around her. He hears her automatic sigh of content when he dips his head to nuzzle her shoulder. 

“Better not tell her that. She’s going to be crushed,” he pretends to chide his wife, rubbing light circles on her rounded belly. “Isn’t that right, kiddo?” he adds in response when he feels the baby nudging against his fingers. 

“Anyway, it’s time for me to think about your present, since it’s your birthday, and not our daughter’s,” Tessa tells him, leaning her head back to receive his gentle kisses on her neck. Scott hums against her soft skin, pleased when he feels her shiver with the sensation.

“Oh? I think I already know what my present is,” he teases, running his hands all over her hips and back to the round globe of her belly. Tessa giggles, a high-pitched sound that tells him she’s masking her immediate turned-on state. 

“And what’s the present, in your opinion, Almost Birthday Boy?” 

She squeaks when he gives her a light bite on her collarbone, swatting at his arms half-heartedly.

“This is my present,” he trails his lips down her neck, “and this,” his arms grip and squeeze her hips lightly, and she gasps when he turns her around to face him. “And _this,”_ he murmurs, when he leans down to kiss her, slow and deep and thoroughly, until they are breathless. 

_“Scott,”_ she pleads, in a suddenly urgent voice. 

“What, babe?” He knows it’s naughty of him to torment her with additional questions, when he’s pretty sure she wants him to continue, for as long as possible, before Rosie interrupts them. 

“Let me go. I need to pee,” Tessa says instead, sounding regretful and a trifle guilty, offering him a sheepish smile while squirming away from his embrace. Scott lets out a low laugh.

“Of course, T. Go ahead,” unable to resist her an affectionate few pats on her pert butt as she walks away, to her ‘Hey!’ accompanied by more giggling. 

On his birthday, Scott wakes up, satisfyingly later than usual, to Tessa’s half of the bed being empty. He lies awake, grinning at the ceiling, and knowing that his wife and daughter undoubtedly prepared a surprise for him. 

Sure enough, the door swings open, and Tessa and Rosie appear, both smiling widely, his wife carrying what looks like a quite impressive cake on a tray. Scott wastes no time in sitting up in bed, but is immediately captured by his little girl, who throws her arms tightly around his neck. Tessa, meanwhile, had begun the birthday song.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,” she sings, her soft voice melodic and true. “Happy birthday, dearest - ”

Rosie shrieks, _“DADDY!”_ just as Tessa sings, “Sco-ott…” and stretches the word dramatically, as Scott pretends to accompany her on an electric guitar. She breaks off and laughs briefly, then sings the rest: “Happy birthday to... _youuu!”_

Rosie’s tiny voice interlaces with her mother’s, not quite fitting into the tempo of the song, but Scott feels his jaw already starting to ache from his uncontrollable grin. It’s his absolute favorite two sounds in the world, the voices of the woman who is his entire life, and the little girl who is the most precious person to them both. Barely they finish, that he gathers both of them close, tears pricking at his eyes now. 

_He’s an old sap. Well, as old as a guy is on his thirty-fifth birthday, but a sap nonetheless._

He looks over Rosie’s head, as he cuddles her, at Tessa. His beautiful, caring wife spoiling her husband already, even with such a small thing as a song and a cake. He’s the luckiest of idiots to walk this Earth.

“I baked your favorite chocolate fudge cake,” she says proudly, handing him the tray with the sizable birthday dessert. Scott can’t resist playfully raising an eyebrow and giving her a look of teasing disbelief. Tessa sighs briefly, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, fine, _your mom_ helped me bake your favorite cake,” she admits. “Or even...she baked about three quarters of it...no, okay, _all_ of it. But I frosted it myself!” she says quickly, becoming a bit defensive. Scott chuckles, and looks at the cake. It’s very meticulously covered in smooth frosting, except the ‘Happy Birthday’ looks a little shaky. 

“I know, it kind of looks like the cake that Hagrid made for Harry in the first _Harry Potter,_ but that’s only because this one here wanted to help me decorate Daddy’s cake,” Tessa explains, pinching Rosie’s cheek fondly. “She wanted me to hold her hand and guide it as we wrote the words together.”

Scott gasps, putting his hand on his chest, at once endeared and impressed. “Ooh, Rosie-posie! Did you decorate Daddy’s cake? Did you help Mommy?” He plants a kiss on his daughter’s head. 

“I help Mommy, Daddy!” Rosie boasts, clapping her hands. “I help cake!” 

Scott and Tessa both laugh and tackle the little girl again to cover her in kisses and tickle her bare feet. She lets out the most contagious giggles, batting at them with her small hands, just like when she was a baby. 

When they settle down, Scott looks at them, just simply taking it all in. Tessa’s cheekbones color slightly, but her answering smile is so sincere. He shakes his head, overcome with fondness, and turns his attention back to the cake. 

“Well? Try it. Disclaimer, any complaints go to Alma and Rose Moir. Tessa Moir is not responsible for customer dissatisfaction,” Tessa jokes, urging him on. 

Scott complies, swiping up a tiny bit of frosting and licking it off. As he hums in appreciation (the three most important women to him did a great job), he catches Tessa gazing at him through lowered eyelashes. _Ah._

“It’s delicious,” he tells her, aware at once of the change in the mood. _“Mouthwatering,”_ he adds, deliberately. Tessa’s eyebrow lifts up, making her look still more alluring. 

“I don’t believe you. Prove it,” she challenges. Her voice sounds husky, and Scott feels himself prickling with lust, just like that. How the hell are they still capable of turning each other on with no effort? He feels blessed even in this instant flash of desire. 

“Make my mouth water,” Tessa whispers, leaning towards him. He can see deep into the dip of her low neckline where she’d carelessly pulled her robe together. One of his favorite spots on her body taunts him, wickedly. 

He puts a finger on the cake again, gathering more frosting. As her warm pink mouth closes around his fingertip and _sucks,_ Scott is unable to keep from groaning. He’s ridiculously hard for her in a split second. 

_“Sooo good,”_ she purrs, wearing the most sinful facial expression, as she pulls away. He can’t restrain himself. He needs to kiss her. 

“Oh yeah?” And he dives in to crush his mouth against hers. She sighs, digging her fingers into his hair to tug on it lightly. 

Scott is consumed with the kiss, coaxing her lips open, kissing her deeper. He so loves her, this gorgeous woman, his childrens’ mother, his beloved wife. Tessa may never fully believe it at all times, but she is breathtakingly beautiful. Now, even more so, the silky fabric of her light robe flaring out to accommodate her rounded form. He can’t resist slipping one hand into her neckline to cup one warm, soft breast, to her throaty moan. 

She’s a goddess of life and love, Scott thinks, and he is only too eager to worship at her altar. He loves her warmth and kindness, her intelligence and talent, her selfless desire to please him with such a present as a birthday cake, since her kitchen abilities are one of her admitted insecurities. The sweet rush of affection juxtaposes his lust, and he pulls away a bit to whisper, “I adore you, T.”

Tessa laughs breathlessly, and moves to sit and adjust her gaping neckline, the skin of which is flushed. “Were there any other options?”

Scott chuckles too, with an amount of regret having to see her hide her alluring cleavage. “Absolutely not.”

“Good,” she tells him cheerfully, “because I adore you, too.” Before he can respond, she leans for another swift, hot kiss, nipping his lower lip between her teeth as she leans away. 

“Are you doing this on purpose?” he mutters into the side of her neck, giving her soft kisses of his own. When her sweet scent tickles his nostrils, he inhales to his heart’s content, intoxicated and soothed, as he always is, by the way she smells. 

Tessa’s face is the picture of innocence, as she shrugs. But those green eyes of hers are sparkling so devilishly. 

“Rosie’s due for a nap in about a half hour,” she says softly. “Do you think we could have a private little birthday celebration?”

“Oh, will there be a public one, too?” Scott pokes her belly and gives it a quick, gentle rub, winking at her. Yes. He does very goddamn much want a _private_ birthday celebration, please and thank her. 

“Wait, where’s Rosie?” Tessa notices suddenly, looking around the room. The little girl must have scurried off the bed long ago as her parents have been otherwise too busy to keep track of her. 

On cue, their daughter scurries back into the room, waving pieces of paper. “Tick-its, Mommy! Forget Daddy’s tick-its!” she cries excitedly, scrambling back onto the bed. Tessa gasps in realization, while Scott pulls Rosie up and peers at her curiously.

“Tickets?” 

“You sneaky little munchkin! You spoiled the rest of Mommy’s surprise!” she pretends to chide the little girl, gathering her in a hug.

“Surprise, Daddy, surprise!” Rosie cheers from her mom’s arms, grinning her wide gap-toothed smile. Tessa takes the pieces of paper to show them to Scott. He raises wide, astonished eyes at her as soon as he reads what is printed there.

“You got me tickets to the Leafs today?!”

She gives him a smug shake of the head. “A slight correction. I got you, me, and Rosie tickets to the Leafs today. I kind of planned to just drive us there without telling you where we’re going, but my own daughter is an expert at spoiling my plans.” She rubs Rosie’s back lovingly.

Scott feels buoyant from the excitement. He can’t resist pecking Tessa on the lips again.

“Now, go take Rosie for that nap you mentioned,” he reminds her. The child, too, looks a bit winded, as she usually is around noon, having draped herself across his leg drowsily. 

Tessa tilts her head. “Why such a hurry, husband?” she asks, with a sly smile.

He lowers his voice, hardly able to keep his anticipation in check. “Because I want to thank you for a yummy cake, a great surprise, and being the world’s best wife...in private.”

He can’t help but quietly sneak over to the cracked-open door, and listen to Tessa gently sing a brief lullaby to Rosie. His heart squeezes with adoration again at the sound of his wife telling their baby she loves her, and Rosie’s sleepy little ‘wuw you, Mommy’ in reply. It’s almost unfathomable, how much he, too, loves his girls. He can’t wait for the newest, tiniest girl’s arrival, either. But more urgent business awaits him at this time. He carries the cake back into the kitchen, fully intending to indulge in it with his family later on. Indulgence of a different sort is coming up, he thinks, as a pleasant shiver runs down his spine. 

He’s buzzing with expectation once Tessa, or rather Tessa’s belly and then she herself, re-enters their bedroom. He loves watching her swaying way of walking (even while feeling sorry for it being uncomfortable for her to carry so much weight, at his doing). She comes over to the bed, and Scott helps her get in, wrapping his arms around her again, as she giggles like a young girl sneaking off to see her first boyfriend. He kisses her. She’s so, so pliant and warm, as he coaxes her to open her mouth so he can brush his tongue against hers. As before, he reaches into her neckline to smooth the fabric away, and this time, Tessa makes no move to bat him away. Instead, she presses closer to him, tilting her head to give him better access to her neck as he moves his lips there. He grins when a light, playful graze of his teeth brings a soft shudder from her. Yep, they have for sure come a long way since initializing those innocent, _literally_ platonic neck snuggles as teenagers who had still been only ‘friends.’

“Scott…” she groans. Her soft, small palms stroke his shoulders, urging him silently to lean back and take off his t-shirt. He’s very happy to go along, but still peers into her eyes, momentarily diving into the green depth. She feels, also, very relaxed and languid in his embrace, not so much greedy and lusty. And that makes him pause a bit.

“T...if you don’t want this now, honestly, just tell me. I’m fine either way.”

Tessa gasps. “If I don’t _what now?_ Why would you think so, Scott Patrick?” 

Scott feels sheepish, as a flush creeps up his face. He mollifies himself by stroking her belly.

“You’ve said you feel tired and uncomfortable...I mean...yeah, I kind of _really_ want you, when do I ever not,” he rushes on, explaining clumsily. “But it’s your comfort that comes -”

He’s silenced as Tessa’s mouth veritably swallows the rest of the sentence. The kiss that follows is just about ready to be put on the list of sins as the eighth one. The sin of lust that’s on the same list already is a nervous little peck on the cheek between third graders, compared to _this_ kiss, he thinks, moaning with encouragement despite his concern for her not five seconds ago. 

“Holy shit, kiddo,” he mutters, breathing quick and heated. He’s hurting, he wants her so much now. Well, Tessa answered him. She answers him then with her eyes as well, which sparkle and flicker. A small but devious smile curves her lips. 

“As much as I like the nickname, I could do without it in bed, _babe,”_ she says, giving him a squeeze of the buttocks in pretend reproach, but a light chuckle ripples through her belly, anyway. 

“But you can’t do without groping my poor ass, can you?” he tsks, carefully lowering her onto the mattress. It’s a matter of moments before her robe is at last tugged off completely. The grin on his face goes nowhere. He’s about to do something that will get him his hair gripped, instead of any lower body parts.

He checks her face for any protests or lack of want, but finds none at all. “I feel so awkward and heavy,” Tessa tells him plaintively. “I wonder what you could do to help me. Maybe relax me a bit...more?” Her eyes are shining, like a kid’s do in a candy store. Scott squeezes her hand gently, hardly able to wait.

“Your wish is my command.”

He leans to brush a series of kisses on her neck...and then her round abdomen...and then lower. “And for the record...” he grins at her, raising up slightly. Tessa licks her lips, and bites the lower one, looking still more inviting. “For the record, you are not awkward at all. You’re gorgeous, now and forever. I love you so goddamn much.”

When Scott settles in between her parted legs, he feels a sudden urgent, almost _wild_ craving for her as he sees her and then inhales her heady scent almost unwittingly, like instinct. With amusement, he remembers Tessa’s own ‘cravings’ from not long ago, and can now understand her fully. Bringing his wife incredible enjoyment, no matter how, makes _him_ feel good, regardless if he gets reciprocation or not. He loves her musky taste with that addicting hint of sweetness. He loves how much wetter, slicker she can get if he so much as shifts his tongue a fraction, or uses his fingers to gently, carefully slip into her and seek that elusive spot that makes her absolutely _gush_ and shake like there is a small earthquake within her that he unleashes _._ So he works away at her, growing so agonizingly hard just from her muffled little sounds of pleasure, from the way she trembles and clenches, and then lets out a sharper cry that she’s not as successful in stifling as all her other reactions, and her fingers curl hard in his hair. He keeps kissing her very, very softly, until she stops trembling, basking in the satisfaction.

Then: “Come here,” Tessa pants, tugging his arm insistently, as he sits up and then lies face-to-face with her. 

The first second or two, Scott thinks it’s just for kissing, and suddenly lets out a soft exclamation of surprise when her fingers grip him with purpose. He can’t help but smile, crushing his lips to hers once more, but groaning low as he feels his own lust spike back into hunger. He’s so very close already, the blood in every single vein of his is furiously roaring, and she had only given him a few strokes at most. To retaliate, he sneaks a hand between her thighs again and slides his fingers back where she still is slippery, showing that two can play at the game. His own stomach clenches and ripples with the tension that’s growing and growing, until he growls a hoarse variation of her name into her breast and spills all over her hand, just as she whimpers with undisguised pleasure for the second time.

He raises his head to find Tessa glowing with a sated smile. He pecks her on the lips, and she coaxes him to kiss her deeper, a sigh escaping her. He watches her savor just lying in bed, as he goes to get a towel to clean her and himself.

“So good…” she observes, languidly. Scott chuckles, palming her abdomen with its now-awakened inhabitant. The tiny baby kicks pretty insistently, so much as to make Tessa wince for a fleeting bit. He is concerned as he catches that expression.

“What is it? Are you...” Every bit of the post-coital pleasure takes a back seat to concern and even anxiety. “Tess, are you okay?”

She shakes her head, as the baby settles under his touch. “No, I’m good, I swear. She just had a good hard kick at my kidney. Or my ribs. I’ve stopped keeping track, really. She has been really going at it the past few days.”

Scott exhales. Leans back to kiss her gently, her lips, cheek, and the tip of her nose. “That _is_ good. You stay put for a tiny bit more, okay, my sweetie?” He shifts lower to speak closer to the belly. “Your due date isn’t for four days yet.” 

There is some lingering apprehension in him. He’s anxious for the delivery to go well, of course, and for Tessa and the baby to be fine. He just doesn’t voice it all to her all the time, because he doesn’t want her to worry about _him_ worrying, as the birth approaches.

Tessa is half sly and half masking her own nervousness with humor. “Nope, this little one must know her own mind. Maybe she wants to surprise us.”

Scott can’t help but laugh, even while shaking his head. “Honestly? This is the one circumstance where I’m not so down for any surprises.”

The surprises, indeed, are still underway, as Scott discovers that both his brothers and Tessa’s are waiting for them in the hockey arena seats. He grins delightedly, shaking their hands and pulling them all into very boisterous birthday man-hugs. Tessa is looking at them, pleased to no end that all her surprises have worked today. Scott draws her into his arms right away, to thank her with a rather enthusiastic kiss, while Rosie scampers into the embrace of her four uncles. The Virtue and Moir men give Scott and Tessa smirks and teasingly drawl _ooohhhh_ as the two kiss.

“You’re amazing, you know that, T?” Scott is breathless with happiness and admiration of this woman, who pays attention to the smallest details. She knows that he and her brothers have long since become friends, and Kevin and Casey had befriended Danny and Charlie, too, so she went into organizing Scott’s birthday surprise to include some more of his favorite people. The big dinner at Alma and Joe’s will be the culmination to the day, even if Scott already knows about it, it being their tradition.

Tessa winks at him. “I knew you’d love the guys to be here.”

Scott gives her a once-over, liking the way her loose Leafs shirt billows around her belly. “Is it me, or have you dropped recently?” he asks, abruptly. Tessa gives her bump a pensive rub.

“Have I? I guess since the due date is near, that’s what should happen. Why? Is everything okay?” She peers at him closely, as if reading his internal nervousness. 

“Yeah. No, just wondering,” he blurts out, hoping she can’t see past it. And she suspects none of his trepidation.

Never the one to boast a brilliant intuition before, Scott can sense in his gut that _something_ might happen today. _God, little one, just let your poor old man see the game, and then you can be born all you want,_ he implores the baby in his head. Of course, his own child’s birth is infinitely more important than any hockey games, but now that Tessa went to such lengths to make him happy for his day, Scott wants to make full use of her gift. 

He does, cheering his favorite team on, surrounded by his family. Rosie shrieks with joy every time the Leafs score, and once when the rival team scores too, since she’s too young to grasp the rules. Scott hardly cares. All he basks in is the atmosphere, Tessa’s shining eyes and pink cheeks, Rosie’s giggles and cotton candy-sticky hands. He shouts exuberantly to the team and refs along with his and Tessa’s brothers, and eventually, the Leafs go through with a win. Tessa laughs, endeared, at the boyish whoop he gives at the end.

“Win, win!” Rosie pipes up, proud of herself for being a small but enthusiastic fan.

And then Tessa makes a short stop at the bathroom, while the brothers go to get their respective cars. Scott waits in the lobby of the rink with Rosie, when the little girl’s focus is grasped by the one thing Scott can _surely_ live without.

“Look, Daddy! Bear! Big bear!”

She squeals and pulls hard on his sleeve, trying to make him look, too. He complies, to his immediate terror.

None other than Carlton the Bear, the mascot of the Leafs, is strolling around some distance away, high-fiving the various fans. Scott swallows the hard lump in his throat, feeling his palms dampen already. _Shit. Shit. Not this. Not fucking this. Not today, Rosie, not now, Jesus._ He reflexively squeezes the little girl’s hand, for support, for preventing her from running full-speed towards the ‘big bear’ and thus hauling him along.

 _Please Tess, hurry the hell up,_ he moans silently. He knows that there might be a line in the women’s room, and so he is trapped with only Rosie a tiny human shield between him and his biggest fear. Though, not shield as much as magnet - her bouncing around in place and happy calls of ‘Bear! Bear!’ have caught the eye of Carlton _(Christ, this creature had scary as fuck eyes, among other things!)_.

And Carlton makes a beeline right towards Scott and Rosie, all jovial like some disturbing parody of Santa Claus. _Holy. Hell._

Adrenaline is shooting fast through him. He desperately does his best to resist running away. _You are a thirty-five year-old man. What kind of fucking adult man is afraid of mascots?_ he yells at himself not for the first time in his life, frantically forcing down a panic attack, in order to not scare Rosie too. His breath is getting more shallow by the minute, and his heart is nearly leaping out of his chest as he prepares for the _thing_ to enter his personal space.

But then, a group of bigger children cry out happily, distracting Carlton from his target - more like _prey,_ Scott thinks, scared to breathe and alert him back. He’s overcome with relief, watching the threatening mascot pose for numerous photos with the kids, and ducks behind more people to go stand nearer the bathroom (and, if need be, duck right inside, not giving a shit that it was not the male one. His dignity, to himself, had suffered already). 

Scott has a momentary flash of worry that Rosie will get upset over not getting to meet the bear. If he were honest, he would try his absolute most to bear with it - pun intended - for the little girl’s sake, if she wanted. Yet, she simply points out, ‘Bear go away’ and Scott gratefully distracts her with some posters on the wall. _That was fucking close._

His near-crippling fright had barely subsided, when Tessa emerges. She is whiter in the face than the tiles on the ladies room wall. 

“Scott…” she squeaks out. Her eyes are wide and she almost does not react when Rosie darts to hug her joyfully. Her face is eerily blank, as she folds her arms around the little girl.

Scott looks at her, both of them filled with understanding. “Tess? Are you…is it -”

“Yeah, my water broke, like, two seconds ago.” Her voice pitches a lot higher than normally, from what sounds like no small amount of anxious realization. She takes a sharp breath, then, and clutches at her bump, seized with an unmistakable contraction.

The encounter with the mascot is mildly unpleasant in the face of this raw flash of nervousness and _fear_ and some weird elation that makes all the hairs on Scott’s body prickle alert. He rushes to Tessa’s side, with their daughter blissfully oblivious to the fact that her baby sister is about to enter the world.

The less happy surprises end there. Yes, theoretically both soon-to-be parents are ecstatic, but the joyful event is accompanied by mishaps. Scott’s car engine is, as if deliberately, refusing to ignite, and jumpstarting does not help. He slaps the headboard with a frustrated palm. _Why the fuck today, of all days!_ Meanwhile, Tessa lets out an even more frustrated groan from the back seat as she fights through the steadily increasing pains.

“What are we going to do?” she laments. A lightbulb goes off in Scott’s head. _How could he not think of it faster?_

The situation is remedied as Charlie offers to watch the car, Kevin and Casey take Rosie under their care, and Danny drives off with Tessa gripping the hand of a steadily more nervous Scott in his car’s back seat. 

Rosie is left with her uncles all of a sudden, and Daddy and Uncle Danny and, most of all, Mama, her precious Mama, drive away. Last she saw, Mama looked like she was crying. _Where did they take Mama?_

“Mama where?” The little girl asks shakily, pointing a trembling finger after the car. “Mama where, Uncle Kevvy? Mama cry!” She struggles to break free of Kevin’s gentle but firm grasp.

“Mama is okay, Rosie-posie. Don’t worry, Mama is fine. She wasn’t crying. In a short time, you will meet your baby sister,” her uncle soothes, picking her up, as Casey leans to kiss her head.

That halts Rosie’s own tears. “Bab’sis?” she repeats, blinking wide eyes at Kevin and Casey. They trade happy but worried smiles: how will it all be in the hospital? Will Tessa and the baby - and, why not, Scott too - be fine? 

“Yes, your baby sister,” Casey says gently, stroking Rosie’s short pigtails. “Don’t worry, honey. Mama is okay.”

Until Kevin’s phone rings, and Scott’s voice urgently cries out: “We don’t have the hospital bag!”

Hospital bag with them or not, Baby Virtue-Moir Number Two couldn't care less. She’s coming, and clearly in a hurry to get out into real life. Tessa grits her teeth and groans in despair when the doctor informs her that she is too far dilated (somehow!) to get an epidural, so she is forced to feel every single contraction, however little it might take for her to give birth. 

“It’s all your...stupid…” She glances and sees the nurses bustling around the room. _“Sex ideas!”_ she finishes, in a pained hiss. “We’re never going to even _kiss_ anymore, much less than the week of the fucking due date! You got that, _Scotty?!”_

Scott is relieved that she chose the sex to lash out onto, and not specifically him and the surrounding world. Besides, she’d been a willing participant in all his ‘sex ideas,’ but he cherishes his life and health too much to point that out. Back in Danny’s car, she’d shouted out astonishingly creative combinations of swear words; the woman who barely ever swore. He puts a tentative hand on her back, rubbing tenderly and trying to comfort her in any way possible, as she hangs half on the bed, half on her knees on the floor. 

Then Tessa gasps, loudly and urgently. “Scott...Scott, I can’t hold it anymore. The baby...I...gotta...push...NOW!”

Scott gives an involuntary yelp as she crushes his fingers with impossible strength, whimpering with another pain. The nurses and the midwife are by her side in a flash, and so, after a few huge pushes, they all inform her that _it’s not much longer, Tessa, there’s the head, give me another big one now; I swear, T, I promise, she’s almost here, one more push, one more, and then no more at all, I’ve got you, kiddo, yes, I’m holding your hand -_

The chorus of encouragement is broken with Tessa’s unexpected but evocative mix of a gasp and a shriek. The baby slides right out, with Tessa still on her knees by the bed, with Scott still near her. The midwife catches the tiny life safely.

“A girl for you, dearies,” she informs them, smiling widely, but they can hardly hear it, transfixed by the sound that their new daughter makes, a little kitten-like wail, but loud and proud. 

Tessa is the first to laugh shakily. “Yes, we know, it’s our baby girl, my sweet baby, yes, give me her,” she rambles, as Scott, shell-shocked, helps her up to recline on the bed. He’s approached for the cord cutting, and then, their baby, their little one, is on Tessa’s chest. She bursts out crying, leaning against Scott, whose eyes are already leaking a steady stream of tears. He kisses her head, but can’t take his eyes off the baby. Of this impossibly tiny, impossibly beautiful being that they created and that is now in their arms, for them to love.

“T, she’s here,” he chokes out, placing a trembling hand (how that pain from where Tessa squeezed was able to vanish!) on the baby’s tiny shoulders. Tessa meets his eyes. Hers are the most indescribably beautiful shade of green velvet. She’s remarkable, his T. His wife. She just blessed him, _them,_ for the second time, with such a sweet baby. 

“Happy birthday yet again, Scott,” she murmurs, tilting her head to kiss him softly. Scott can’t stop another onslaught of tears. He knows he will never get a more perfect birthday present. 

“I love you both so much. I adore you,” he whispers zealously, as they separate to gaze on their newest child.

When Kevin and Casey, not forgetting Rosie, come into the room, they knock nervously and open the door, exclaiming, “Sam, we got the - ” and stop in the doorway, before the picture. Tessa and Scott, with a newborn wrapped in a blanket, all radiating love and happiness.

“- bag,” Casey finishes, sounding terribly surprised. “Well, well! That didn’t take long!”

“Says you,” Tessa quips, but not offended in the least, as Scott chuckles. 

“Come on, you guys have a sister and niece to meet,” he says, beckoning them over. Rosie, as would be expected, shows the most enthusiasm, and her uncles have to remind her to be a little quieter, because the baby is sleeping.

“Bab’sis,” she murmurs in wonder, approaching the bed. Scott hauls her up onto his knee and gives her a kiss. “That lil’sis, Mommy?”

Tessa grins, misty-eyed. “Yes, Rosebud. That’s your baby sister. Touch her, go ahead - just be nice and gentle, remember? Gentle. She’s very little.”

Rosie needs no reminder, being of a kind and sweet personality already. She reaches a little hand to touch the top of her sister’s head, and brightens even more, looking up at them all.

“Soft! Soft, bab’sis, pretty,” she observes, petting the fuzz on top of the baby’s head very carefully, especially for a two year-old. “Pretty baby,” she repeats softly, half to herself and half to the baby. Tessa and Scott beam back at her instant love for the tinier girl. “Me kiss baby?” 

“Go ahead, honey.” The older sister bends to touch her pouty little lips to the baby. The tiny creature moves a sleepy arm, and Rosie giggles, clasping her minuscule fist.

“Little hand, pretty hand. Me love baby, love lil’sis,” she tells them all, to their collective _aww’s._ Scott catches Tessa’s eye. _We love that you love her. And we love you both with all our hearts._

After the uncles, joined by Danny and later Charlie, also say their hellos to the new arrival, Danny, true to his form, doesn’t fail to remind them of one very important matter.

“So what’s this tiny one’s name?”

Kevin and Casey pipe up. “Name her Scottster Junior, eh, Sam? She’s her dad’s birthday thief today!”

Everyone’s attention is tuned to the parents. Tessa and Scott don’t move their eyes from the baby, thinking hard about the name, giving it full consideration. 

And it’s Tessa - she’s not called brilliant by her husband for nothing - who perks up and gives them a dazzling grin. “She’s going to have three names, just like her sister.”

Scott smiles back, leaning to kiss her cheek. “And what are they?”

“Samantha, Sammy for short,” Tessa looks at her brothers. Her eyes move to Scott’s. “Charlotte. And Danielle. Because if it weren’t for all of you, I’d give birth in the hockey arena, without the hospital bag on top of it,” she laughs a little, shaking her head. 

The men are speechless for a few beats. “Tessie...you sure? We promise, we’re not asking for it - ” Casey stammers, clearly touched, and Kevin nods eagerly. 

“It’s up to you two, we just did what we had to do to help you guys,” Charlie adds.

But both of the parents nod back. “Yes. A hundred percent sure,” Scott reassures him, with a grin that rivals that of a Stanley Cup winner.

Tessa leans back to her older daughter. “This is Sammy, Rosie. Her name is Sammy,” she says affectionately. Rosie looks angelic with a new, delighted smile.

“Me love baby Sammy,” she confesses, kissing her tiny sister again.

It’s later, when the family of four is resting in the hospital room, after the numerous other family members have come, that Scott tells Tessa of his near-death experience with the mascot. She does her best to cover her peal of laughter, as Sammy and Rosie both nap.

“You know, Kevin told me Rosie was pretty upset to see me go. I think we owe her that puppy in the future,” she chuckles, nudging Scott with her shoulder. He thinks about it, all the images of this unforgettable day etched into his mind.

“A puppy for her, but and emotional support dog for me. I won’t go to the arena again without one!”

**Author's Note:**

> Smut too lovey-dovey? TS too sappy? Tell me what you guys thought!!


End file.
